“Twenty paces,” Vir said.
“If you promise to rest until you’re fully healed after.”
“I swear upon Rudvik’s name.”
“Then I shall be there, lad.”
Vir turned back to the beast. He didn’t Leap or Blink—he ran.
The Blader wallowed in confusion, its flight instincts warring with fight.
Perhaps thinking Vir incapable of using Chakram Barrage, it chose to fight, rushing to Vir while bellowing a deep roar.
Vir neared to twenty paces and sank into his shadow, forcing extra prana into the activation to get it to activate.
Doing so put an added burden on his body, but Vir dealt with the pain. What he really needed was a portable light source, like Magic Lamp, to generate a strong shadow wherever he was, but for now, he’d have to make do with this limitation.
Vir reappeared within the Blader’s shadow. While not large enough to fully exit from, he didn’t have to worry about that.
Katar Launch fired upward.
The Blader’s massive body jolted a pace into the air from the force. A shockwave boomed, flattening nearby grass.
The Blader didn’t have a belly so much as an armored bottom, but it split open just the same.
The impact of its fall did the rest.
Vir wasn’t done. Slipping back through his shadow, he reappeared in Cirayus’. As part of their bargain, the giant had closed to within twenty paces to give Vir an exit, and he took it happily.
Vir threw his chakram, activating Chakram Launch, and gritted through the pain. The prana disk layered perfectly onto the steel one, traveling as one.
The Blader saw it coming, but it mattered little. With its belly ruptured and blood spilling out, it was in no shape to move quickly. The prana chakram hit just before the metal one did, decimating the Prana Armor protecting the beast’s head, and gouging into the metal protecting it.
The metal chakram expanded the incision, penetrating its metal skull, and coming to rest inside its skull.
The Blader collapsed instantly—dead.
“Do you believe me now?” Cirayus asked, grinning. “Do you understand what power feels like?”
“I do.”
It’s intoxicating.
Vir spent the next week holed up in the third lord’s domain—now his domain—meditating. Nearly a month had now passed in the Ash. Five months in the Human Realm. Every hour that went by made Vir’s heart clench just a little tighter.
I could’ve been through with this place by now.
Still, it was hard to stay angry with himself. Not when he’d obtained such overwhelming abilities. Blade Launch hadn’t seemed like much, initially. The ability to send his strikes flying forth was powerful, yes, but to this extent?
In hindsight, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Kamna’s Blade Launch nearly killed him. Here in the Ash, he had access to more prana than even she had, and he had a more potent affinity.
If he could sustain Launch Barrage, few enemies would pose a threat. Against that kind of firepower, he would win every time if the fight dragged on long enough.
Vir could imagine it now—no longer eeking past his fights, struggling through. He’d dominate his foes, just as he had the Blader. That wasn’t a fight. It was annihilation.
For now, though, he sat with his legs crossed, and he meditated, not even leaving for food and water. Cirayus brought those over, providing Vir his meals.
Vir even slept in his domain, using every moment of the day to acclimate to its unbelievable prana density. It had to have been ten times what it was in the Human Realm. Ten times the amount of prana in his blood.
“You’ve come too far, too quickly, lad. Your body isn’t ready to handle this prana load.”
“I know,” Vir said. “If I let my Prana Dam go, my blood might actually burst.”
“I feel you should move back to a lower domain. I can eliminate the lords for you.”
Vir glanced back at the domains he’d taken out. Within hours of moving away, two Ash Wolves had jumped in, claiming it as their own. He’d worried he would have to fight his way out every time he wanted to leave the domain, but there was an unspoken rule amongst the lords—none of the lesser lords attacked him when he crossed theirs.
They growled and howled, but they left him alone.
Still, Vir couldn’t accept. “I didn’t take down this lord just to sit still. I need to progress. Half a year, Cirayus. It’s been almost half a year for Maiya. I can’t do this to her. I have to get in touch.”
The giant sighed. “I understand your feelings, lad. I truly do. Which is why I’ve played along thus far. But there is a line between ambition and recklessness. You are teetering on the very edge.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Cirayus grunted. “You’ll sleep in an hour. You’ve had a long day.”
“Two hours? I can definitely go for another two,” Vir begged. “I’ll meditate on the Foundation Chakra. That’s relaxing, right?”
“Do you consider being crushed by the weight of a mountain relaxing?”
“Uh, well, it’s not real, right?”
Cirayus looked up at the stormy skies. “Do you see this, Maion? Your son is just like you.”
“Really!”
“I’ll hear none of this, lad. The agreement was for you to fight the Blader in exchange for following my instructions to the word. Meditate if you must, but no more than an hour.”
Vir hung his head. “Fiiine.”
“I shall fetch some food and water.”
The giant bounded lightly away, disappearing into the forest in the distance.
Vir began the process of purging his thoughts, but there were many, and they were loud.
I’m stronger now—can’t we just train deeper inside the Ash? Why’s it taking so long to unlock the Foundation Chakra, anyway? This progress is too slow! When am I gonna get my first Ultimate tattoo? Why won’t Shardul and Ekanai help me?
Vir sighed, frustrated.
Why’s it so windy, anyway? Another storm?
He’d been so frustrated that he’d failed to notice the breeze that nipped his nose.
Should still have some time before it gets too bad. Gotta wrap up meditating before then.
It was only then that Vir noticed the breeze had grown in strength.
He opened his eyes and gasped.
Cracks appeared before him. Cracks in reality. They spread like a mirror shattering in slow motion, growing longer and deeper.
Then suddenly, Ash prana emerged from within. Just a tendril—like a drop of a vast ocean.
Vir’s heart nearly seized. His body went into shock.
The Ash Tear? No. What is this?
It was prana so dense, it manifested to his normal sight. Not as a wispy cloud, but as a solid. Solid prana. Just being near it made him dry retch, sending him onto his knees.
Then the blackness expanded, like a beast clawing its way out, wrestling the cracks wider. Tearing reality like a fabric.
That’s no ordinary tear, Vir thought dazedly. That’s a full-on Ash Gate!
The infinite void spun and spiraled, and then it was gone. In its place was an image—a looking glass into a place far, far away. A dangerous place.
Vir backed away. Or he tried to back away. He found his body frozen. Transfixed by the prana. The Tear had never done this before. He’d almost thought it benign.
But when an Ash Wolf bounded through, Vir understood he’d been wrong.
Before he could react, the beast was at his side, biting his leg off…